My faint heart is often tempted to blame God when bad things happen, because I think I ‘deserved better.’ But really, did I deserve better? That’s not really the point of grace, amazing grace! This week I was listening to Nehemiah 9, and it stood out to me just how many times the passage talked about God’s mercy, God’s goodness, God’s deliverance, God’s compassion.

Fitbloggin’ is over. 🙁 It was amazing. I got to put so many faces to the names of blogs and learn from people that I consider EXPERT bloggers and very adept at the world of social media, something which makes me feel um… stupid… when I hear people talk about it. 🙂

What were some of the biggest lessons I learned?

1. Be HONEST. Gigi from Gigi Eats stressed this in a BIG way at a small group discussion on Saturday morning about being sponsorship savvy, something of which I am almost entirely illiterate. Don’t butter up another blogger or a sponsor up one side and down the other just to get a contract or a partnership. Partner with brands you LOVE. If a brand gives you something you don’t love, don’t give a dishonest, flattering review just to keep the partnership up. It speaks VOLUMES to your integrity when you are willing to say the difficult things.

Which also means I can be totally honest even about the free products I received as part of the conference. 🙂 This product? I had to rave about it. . . real quick.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

They had so many sponsors. I got to delve into products I’ve never tried before, but most of them, I really LOVED.

I absolutely love YOGURT, and I eat far more yogurt than milk. The ‘Yuu’ yogurt made by Silk, served at one of the breaks, was especially creamy and smooth. It wasn’t too sugary but sweet enough to be a real treat. Time to add this to my list of yogurts to buy…

2. Define your Niche. Emily from Authentically Emmie (Don’t you love that name?) really emphasized this in a session on personal branding outside of your blog in order to connect with sponsors and share your niche in order to bless and encourage others. The world of fitness bloggers is absolutely HUGE. If you just market yourself as a fitness blogger, you will be BURIED in 1000s of other bloggers. 1 or 2 people will find your blog, but you have define what your passion is in that niche? Is your passion:

The list could keep going. It really helped me to think of what I’m particularly passionate about, and what I would love to share with others and use to bless them.

That also means that all of these ladies and gentleman had different stories and blogs. Laura (in the pink) from Laura Lohr had been blogging for 10 years! Wow. And some, like me had only been blogging for 5 or 6 months.

3. Social Networking is SO important. And you have to do it smart. I have not been doing it smart. Kelly Olexa from Fitfluential remarked that Twitter is kind of dead right now, and it’s really hard to grow there right now. The message that was pounded into my head was that INSTAGRAM is the place to be. This kind of intimidates me, because I’m not very good at taking pictures, not super smart about hash-tagging. It was also a re-confirmation of what I kind of knew was true. So… if you follow me, expect an Instagram account to open up soon. 😉

This small group on social networking was led by Ty Godwin from Seeking Boston Marathon. He has a cool story. He started his blog on his first year of seeking the Boston Marathon. He has ran 5 Boston Marathons since. 🙂 How cool is that? O_o

Stay tuned for upcoming posts about the bloggers I met there, the stupendous sponsors I met, the food I ate, and the workouts I got to try!

The Life of the Writer

I live in the beautiful state of Colorado where 14ers are to give you all the sore legs you need, amazing skiing, plenty of other runners, glorious sunsets, majestic elk herds, and peaceful country roads with clear air.

Go Back in Time!

Go Back in Time!

I am a very ordinary girl. I’m 21, but if you met me, you wouldn’t believe me. I am passionate about girls finding true beauty in Christ. I love peanut butter, icecream, and salad. My hobbies are cooking, baking, sharing laughs and tears with others, and sharing the fullness of joy that Christ has put in me. I love reading other blogs, and I hope that this will be a place where you can find encouragement, recipes, smiles, and joy. Click here to read more about me...